Manny Test positive

[Kratos]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-...,5088726.story

HCG not found in Manny Ramirez drug test
Kirby Lee / Image of Sport / US Presswire
Manny Ramirez has not publicly commented since his suspension but is expected to meet with his teammates this weekend when the Dodgers are in Miami.

No trace of the medicine HCG was found in Manny Ramirez's system at the time of his drug test, three sources with specific knowledge of the results have told The Times. It was a prescription for that drug, which is a non-steroid but banned by Major League Baseball, that led to the outfielder's 50-game suspension for violating the league's drug policy.

One of the sources with knowledge of the test results confirmed that the outfielder's sample was flagged for having an unusually elevated synthetic testosterone level, more than four times that of the average male. Sources also said that MLB's decision to move to suspend Ramirez would have happened only if the report showed a banned substance. Anti-doping experts said the absence of HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin ), coupled with the league's action, indicated that the Dodgers' outfielder used steroids .

MLB officials had begun the process of disciplining Ramirez for a positive drug test when they obtained his medical records that contained a prescription for HCG. At that point he was suspended for "just cause" based on "non-analytical evidence" and for which a "therapeutic use" exemption was available but never requested. Once MLB had the prescription, Ramirez dropped the appeal and was suspended.

All the sources asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the test results.

Attempts to reach Ramirez were unsuccessful. The Dodgers referred all questions to MLB.


At the time his suspension was announced, Ramirez said in a statement that his doctor, "gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me." Ramirez has not publicly commented since but is expected to meet with his teammates this weekend when the Dodgers are in Miami, where he has a home.

Before the prescription came to light, Ramirez's representatives had been expected to argue on appeal that the elevated testosterone level was caused by DHEA, said authorities familiar with MLB's testing procedure, who also asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The World Anti-Doping Agency considers DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) a steroid and has banned it but baseball hasn't.

These authorities, however, said the league would not have considered a test a positive if it were known that DHEA caused the spike in a player's testosterone-epitestosterone (T-E) ratio, a key marker relied upon by international doping authorities to establish if an athlete is using steroids.

Speaking generally about the MLB testing procedures, Professor Christiane Ayotte, director of the WADA-accredited lab in Montreal where Ramirez's sample was tested, said her facility reports test results "as precisely as possible," knowing what substances are on a specific sport's banned list and detailing if exogenous testosterone (steroids or its precursors) or DHEA provoked the elevated T-E ratio.

The lab report would include whether the individual tested positive for DHEA even though Ayotte added, "We know DHEA is not on baseball's prohibited list of substances."

The authorities with knowledge of baseball's testing procedures stressed that MLB would not have declared a drug test a positive if the Montreal lab reported that DHEA had caused the elevated T-E ratio.

One of the three sources with information about the test results said baseball had three "powerful analytic foundations" to say the positive drug test was not caused by DHEA.

First, scientists have testified in other doping cases that DHEA does not raise an average person's T-E ratio (1:1) to more than 4:1, where Ramirez's was, the source said. Second, MLB could produce the player's urine sample showing how much manufactured DHEA was in his system. Finally, the WADA lab conducts a Carbon Isotope Ratio (CIR) test on DHEA that identifies the level of the substance and whether it was naturally occurring or manufactured.

"We can show the difference, with DHEA [and] testosterone . . . the CIR tells us if it's natural or doping," Ayotte said, again speaking generally about her lab's procedures. "There's no miracle in nature."

Even if previous DHEA use boosted natural testosterone production after the substance had left the system, Ayotte said the CIR can establish if synthetic testosterone caused a significant T-E ratio spike.

One of the sources familiar with the test result said baseball officials were confident in their case against Ramirez. Once they found a prescription of HCG, which Ramirez has said he was given, then the 50-game suspension was clinched -- the same penalty Ramirez would have received if it had been proved he used steroids.

Performance-enhancing drug experts said Ramirez's best legal argument in an appeal would have been to prove he has a naturally high level of testosterone -- for example, that his T-E ratio was naturally around the 3:1 range -- and to argue that any manufactured DHEA in his system caused the elevated result.

As for HCG, Dr. Glenn Braunstein, an expert in reproductive endocrinology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said the drug slightly bumps up testosterone production but typically not to the level that would cause a T-E ratio such as 4:1. A typical dose leaves a person's system in 36 hours.

At the time of Ramirez's suspension, not much was known about HCG among the general public. The drug can be used to boost sex drive but can also assist steroid users to repair testosterone production at the end of a cycle, medical authorities say. According to sources in Ramirez's camp, the player's need to improve sexual performance was a factor in his use of the drug.

Gary Wadler, a New York sports medicine expert and WADA's chairman of the prohibited list and methods, said if HCG was not present, Ramirez's explanation would ring hollow.

"Maybe they hoped this would never surface, but in the name of transparency, you'd like to know who flunked a steroid test," he said.

The confidentiality of positive drug tests in MLB, crafted in collective-bargaining negotiations with baseball's strongly organized union, is "not good -- for the public, or the individual," WADA Director General David Howman said. "We don't get the blow by blow with MLB and we know why."

Under baseball's drug policy, if a player is suspended on a basis other than a positive test for a banned substance, "the only public comment from the club or the commissioner's office shall be that the player was suspended for a specified number of days for a violation of this program." Ramirez's suspension was not based on a positive test but on the evidence of the prescription without a therapeutic use exemption.

While the drug policy restricts the disclosure of the specific substance that triggered a positive test and resulted in suspension, the commissioner's office can disclose how the substance was classified -- as a performance-enhancing substance, drug of abuse or stimulant.

In January, for example, Selig's office announced that pitchers J.C. Romero of the Philadelphia Phillies and Sergio Mitre of the New York Yankees each had "received a 50-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance in violation of Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program."

The Ramirez announcement said only that he had "been suspended 50 games for a violation of Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program."

[Kratos]

So anyway, looks like Manny was shooting test.

HCG for sexual performance??? I don't think so...first of all most people say it makes you pre-jackulate. Secondly I doubt he want's to be knocking up groupies.

[scerpico22]

look, he has handled it as best as possible...juts shut up take your suspension and move on with it...

but damn, i gotta say...whata F up. You know the league gets your medical records, why would you have your doc give you a script for the HCG . Just get it on the market like you got your juice...im sure he could have gotten the HCG that way. they league would have never been the wiser.

Manny slipped...and got caught. Oh well...

Next is Albert Pujols

[jfalco]

From the sounds of it, Manny was caught either way. The HCG script just made it easier on the league.

It would be great if Pujols got caught. He's a free agent at the end of the year. It might really reduce his asking price.

[mxkevin]

Man up take it and shut up

[scerpico22]

Man up take it and shut up

ummm, thats what he has pretty much done.

[SampsonandDelilah]

From the sounds of it, Manny was caught either way. The HCG script just made it easier on the league.

It would be great if Pujols got caught. He's a free agent at the end of the year. It might really reduce his asking price.

I am a huge baseball fan, and huge Pujols fan...I think the guy is natty! There was a great article in SI last month, talking about how many times he's been tested. People want to see him get popped, I for one believe he is clean and one of the best hitters of all time! He is a great story, great moral character and one helluve ball player.

I cant really say that about alot of the guys that have been busted.

ie..Manny, A Rod, Clemens, those guys were all douche bags off the field and not nearly the quality of character of Pujols!

[Kratos]

I can't wait to do steroids ...I could have a body like this

[SampsonandDelilah]

LOL!! Seriously...then you just need a dreadlock weave!

[jfalco]

Manny's dreads are not a weave. We all watched them grow in in Boston.

[scerpico22]

I am a huge baseball fan, and huge Pujols fan...I think the guy is natty! There was a great article in SI last month, talking about how many times he's been tested. People want to see him get popped, I for one believe he is clean and one of the best hitters of all time! He is a great story, great moral character and one helluve ball player.

I cant really say that about alot of the guys that have been busted.

ie..Manny, A Rod, Clemens, those guys were all douche bags off the field and not nearly the quality of character of Pujols!

please........just because he has past test..that done mean shit -

Manny passed plenty of test too...and so did A-Rod

[Lightsout2184]

this came out like 10 days ago

[Lightsout2184]

he is still one of the best talents to ever step onto a baseball field.

[scerpico22]

he is still one of the best talents to ever step onto a baseball field.

x2...

[chuckt12345]

x2...

yup id roll out the red carpet for him if he came to the stros,, i dont care what a jackasss he is

[Kratos]

this came out like 10 days ago

there was some doubt cast on his guilt though...and is was unclear what the substance he thought his doctor prescribed him but was legal...this article pretty much clears up any confusion...and without a doubt shows it was not HCG or anything else but synthetic test.

[jfalco]

Hell, I'd roll out the red carpet for him if we could have him back in Boston.


I just wish someone would give Papi some juice.

[Lightsout2184]

there was some doubt cast on his guilt though...and is was unclear what the substance he thought his doctor prescribed him but was legal...this article pretty much clears up any confusion...and without a doubt shows it was not HCG or anything else but synthetic test.

no i meant like 2 days after he was suspended they said they got him through his medical records not a test. they had popped him for test earlier. but dont get me wrong i love when anyone posts anything to do with sports

[Lightsout2184]

Hell, I'd roll out the red carpet for him if we could have him back in Boston.


I just wish someone would give Papi some juice.

thats why i hate papi. we all know he used to do gear his numbers show it like no other and he was talking crap. seriously will he ever hit a home run this year.

[jfalco]

thats why i hate papi. we all know he used to do gear his numbers show it like no other and he was talking crap. seriously will he ever hit a home run this year.

I don't know about that. Seems to me more like injuries stacked up to me. His numbers dwindled when he had a knee injury followed by a wrist injury. Absurd to say his numbers point to steroids . His numbers are typical of overweight power hitters. They all put up 4 or 5 big seasons and then drop off quickly.

What talking crap? Never heard Papi say anything negative about anyone.

[jfalco]

I'm not saying Papi did or didn't do anything. Just saying you can't point at his numbers as irrefutable evidence he was juicing. If he was, I wish he would start again.

Personally I think his wrist never healed properly.

[scottythebody]

From the sounds of it, Manny was caught either way. The HCG script just made it easier on the league.

It would be great if Pujols got caught. He's a free agent at the end of the year. It might really reduce his asking price.

Pujols isn't a free agent until after the 2010 season

[jfalco]

Pujols isn't a free agent until after the 2010 season

You're right. My bad. I misunderstood what I heard on sportscenter. He is under contract through 2010 with an option for 2011 (not that he'll be willing to work for 16 million in 2011).

[Lightsout2184]

I'm not saying Papi did or didn't do anything. Just saying you can't point at his numbers as irrefutable evidence he was juicing. If he was, I wish he would start again.

Personally I think his wrist never healed properly.

jfalco i dont care how fat he is there is no way he peaked at 29 years old. he is only 33 now and is 100 percent healthy and cant hit a ball out if his life depended on it. how do u hit 54 and then 3 years later when u are 100 percent healthy u cant hit one. on the talking crap part ill give in 50 50 on that. he didnt talk any crap for the steroid scandal but he was like a canary when manny wanted out of boston.

[Lightsout2184]

I'm not saying Papi did or didn't do anything. Just saying you can't point at his numbers as irrefutable evidence he was juicing. If he was, I wish he would start again.

Personally I think his wrist never healed properly.

i hope he does so he can help ur team out.

[DSM4Life]

[Lightsout2184]

hey jfalco ur boy finally hit a homerun congrats